Is Modern Technology Ruining Culture? - Nature Deficit Disorder

Marc Hubs is a writer/researcher on mind, science, and conspiracy. He is the author of "Know Your Enemy: Reflections of NPD."

Nature Deficit Disorder

Technology is now and technology is the future but have we really all just become slaves to the machines?

According to many sources, up-to-date technological advancements combined with social networking and viral marketing, has led to an outbreak in something called Nature Deficit Disorder. This term was first coined by Richard Louv in 2005 in his book Last Child In The Woods.

Louv explains in Last Child In The Woods, that Nature Deficit Disorder results in a wide range of behavourial problems in children that do not spend enough time outside with nature. However, there is no official diagnosis of Nature Deficit Disorder and there are no plans to add the disorder to the medical manuals which means that it will remain an unofficial diagnosis, perhaps until a time in the future when the issues surrounding the alleged become more widely recognized.

It's true that in this day and age, the digital age, that children are becoming increasingly more hypnotized by technology. However, this issue does not just affect children. There are now plenty of adults who have been brought up on technological advances and it's also true that society, justice and government have come to rely on technology. What on Earth would we do if we were suddenly made to live without it? Systems would collapse, important information would be lost and there would be devastating consequences not just for governments but also for the majority of the general public and the entire infrastructure that religion, society and government are based upon.

In other words we are already slaves to the machines!

The Potential Consequences

Not only are children becoming addicted to technology such as video games and mobile phone apps (and Facebook, of course) but our establishments now have satellites orbiting Earth, rockets and missiles being shot into space, mobile phone networks and infrastructures which would all be adversely affected if something devastating was to happen to the technology. Consider the recent news that the UK is prone to EMP attacks from space and that the MoD (Ministry of Defense) plan to do nothing about it. Then there's the fact that UK have just signed a deal with France to have nuclear power plants build throughout the UK. It's not just children who are reliant on technology.

World governments are actually concerned about what could happen during expected upcoming solar flare (CME) activity (expected in May 2013), especially when combined with the rip in Earth's magnetosphere and the depletion of the sun's heliosphere. Potentially, GPS satellites could be wiped out and swallowed by solar flares affecting global communications. If the North American power grid is hit then America could be left without power for two months or more - these are not conspiracy theories, this information has been officially announced! The depletion of the sun's heliosphere has already been verified by NASA and the potential of the expected solar flares due to the sun's 11-year cycle was officially reported by the National Academy of Sciences - this report was funded and commissioned by NASA in 2009.

In addition the Public Broadcasting Service already announced that they had discovered an extremely powerful energy emanating from the core of Earth responsible for generating Earth's magnetosphere.

How would we survive if our technology was suddenly wiped out by solar flares?

Effects Of Technology On Children

Nature Deficit Disorder has been widely related to scholarly articles on the subject of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD can actually be present in a child without the 'hyperactivity' aspect even being present leaving just ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Although not widely known information, ADD and ADHD can actually be a result of narcissistic parenting. In simple terms, a child with a narcissistic parent/parents is left without the attention they truly deserve as the parent sees them as just another source of narcissistic supply - they are there for the benefit of the parent. The child therefore never attains enough attention or love from the parent/s and becomes wrapped up in their own world, just as they have been left to. True bonding never takes place due to a lack of empathy.

The child then keeps their self occupied and comforted with the use of video games, movies and suchlike. This becomes long-term and the child uses these technologies as a source of entertainment, a source of motivation, a source of education and a source of recognition. They have been left to their own devices whilst the parent(s) fail to adequately educate them and parent them properly and they are rarely taken outside to play and/or to appreciate nature. The child grows up accustomed to their technological surroundings, they do not know any different.

So, is technology ruining culture?

Although Nature Deficit Disorder is not an official medicalized disorder, David Pencheon of NHS' Sustainable Development Unit said:

"there's undoubtedly a phenomenon that's not good for health, which is about not giving access to outdoors or green space, safe risk-taking and so on but I wouldn't say we've identified a medical condition. In fact we don't want to 'medicalise' it, we should see it as part of everyday life - if you medicalise it, people say 'you'd better go to your doctor and take a pill".

In defense to the alleged unofficial condition, parents state that higher numbers of vehicles on the roads and public attacks on children are two basic reasons why children are spending less times outdoors. However, as pointed out earlier in this article, these two reasons actually indicate a lack of attention and care from parents towards their children.

When a particularly young child is out crossing the road they should be in the company of an adult. If there is a risk of public attack, then a child should not be out in public alone - this doesn't mean that they have to be kept indoors, it simply means that parents need to do more to keep their children secure and to bond with them properly.

Preventing children from going outside for such reasons shows self-centredness by the parent/s who should be accompanying them when going outside in order to keep them safe anyway.

So are Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder, Nature Deficit Disorder and basic Attention Deficit Disorder actually a result of being hypnotized by technology?

Comments

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AUTHOR

Marc Hubs

6 years agofrom United Kingdom

It seems that the more time goes on the more integrated we are becoming with the technology. Perhaps one day we will become so integrated with it that we become androids/cyborgs.

Richard J ONeill

6 years agofrom Bangkok, Thailand

Interesting article Sparkster!

Yes, I think it is safe to say that although technology is a must if we hope to progress and expand into space and explore the universe, it is being used wrongly.

I have a new son and I intend to keep him away from television, at least most of it, except for educational stuff. I will never just leave him playing games and touch screens etc. No way!

He'll be playing with his soldiers and toys with me!!

Take care, interesting and up!

C E Clark

6 years agofrom North Texas

I don't think technology is ruining our culture so much as changing it, just as the automobile, the telephone, and television have done previously.

Back before the automobile, it wasn't necessary for parents to be outside with their children or to walk them across the street. There were older brothers and sisters to do that. Birth control has changed society.

At one time, most people lived in the country on small farms compared to most people now living in cities, so many of the things that have become problems didn't exist at one time. Children used to have more chores to do and more responsibilities at a much earlier age.

Imagining that society has always been the way it is now is not taking all the changes over the last 100 years or so into consideration. Our whole way of life in the U.S. has changed as a result of the Industrial Revolution and all that encompasses. I'm sure people from the late 1800s were certain their grand children's lives were about to be ruined forever on account of television and telephones.

Life changes, society changes, and nothing can stop it. What we need to teach our children is not to avoid technology, but how to use it wisely. Realize that even the things that you hold dear, Sparkster, might well make your great grandparents shudder because things in your generation have gone so badly downhill -- in their estimation -- if they were only here to tell you.

AUTHOR

Marc Hubs

6 years agofrom United Kingdom

Hmm could artificial intelligence one day be programmed to outwit us??

SouthernHoney

6 years agofrom San Diego, CA

Interesting article - it is a little unnerving when you consider how deeply we've integrated technology into our daily lives.

I went to a church service yesterday for the first time in years, and instead of a pastor at the front of the crowd, there were three huge projection screens. The sermon was delivered by video, which was obviously not live but recorded prior. And to top it all off, the pastor read his notes off of an ipad.

Is this how we define “fellowship” in our modern society? I could do without.

AUTHOR

Marc Hubs

6 years agofrom United Kingdom

You make some very interesting and valid points. Yes it's true, technology is everywhere including outside. There are wireless hotspots everywhere, people carry around mobile devices and technology is highly accessible wherever you go.

"Parents today have little control over what their children are doing" - this statement stands out. I am a parent of three children and there have been times where I was working at three jobs at one time. Working parents and single parents are still responsible for their children and whilst children can access technology wherever they go, it's also important for parents/guardians to teach them the importance of awareness, particularly self-awareness.

Technology can be a good thing but it's not a replacement for life. My daughter has actually been trying to get me to sign her up to Second Life the online game but I haven't done so because I know that she will lose out on the things going on in real life and the things going on around her.

ib radmasters

6 years agofrom Southern California

sparkster

I gather that your point is that the problem is under the person's control. Unfortunately, along with technology the age old wannabees is still very much alive.

Kids today need to have the latest technology, or at least the same as their friends. so peer pressure works with or without technology, a parents have less control than they did without technology.

Adults and kids today are more like sheep, than individuals. The outside as you mention it, is no longer the outside as you would like it to be. Today, the outside is just another virtual room for mobile media. The wireless tether of mobile devices puts a bubble around the user, be it adult or child. It is like an umbrella and rain, as you don't experience the feel of rain because you are shielded from it by the umbrella.

Likewise, the mobile device is an electronic umbrella shielding you from your environment and surroundings.

Parents today have little control over what their children are doing. There are many reasons why even parents that want to be responsible for what their children are doing, just don't have the time, or the technological understanding to do it. There are more single parent families today than ever before, and more parents that have to work, and some have to work long hours just to get by.

AUTHOR

Marc Hubs

6 years agofrom United Kingdom

"Social media is a problem created by technology"

I disagree, it's only a problem if you let it be a problem.

"It does something that you cannot do, or wouldn't do in real life. That something is putting all your friends in the same room at the same time."

Whilst this is true, those friends now do not need to be in the same room as each other to communicate... and being in a room is not the same as being outside.

"Facebook is a social deficit as it takes the face to face level of contact and replaces it with electronics, and impersonal as well.

Is getting an eCard the same level of thoughtfulness as someone actually going to a card shop and picking out a special card just for you?

I don't think so."

True... but once again, only if you let it affect you in that way.

My point is that parents need to take more responsibility for their children instead of palming them off with Facebook or video games to keep them entertained. Parenting has gotten lazy!

ib radmasters

6 years agofrom Southern California

Social media is a social problem created by technology.

It does something that you cannot do, or wouldn't do in real life. That something is putting all your friends in the same room at the same time.

The six degrees of separation works when networking for a job, but not for friends. The networking for job is at the acquaintance level, while friendship is at the personal, to really personal level.

Facebook is a social deficit as it takes the face to face level of contact and replaces it with electronics, and impersonal as well.

Is getting an eCard the same level of thoughtfulness as someone actually going to a card shop and picking out a special card just for you?

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